MORAGA, Calif. — After an eight day rest from their last contest, Saint Mary's (8-14, 4-9 WCC) will return home to host the Pacific Tigers (16-10, 6-8 WCC). The Gaels swept the season series against the Tigers a year ago, with a five set reverse sweep on the road and a senior day sweep at home. They'll look to keep the positive momentum rolling against their conference foes from the east.
THE DETAILS
Saint Mary's Gaels vs Pacific Tigers
Saturday, November 16 at 1 PM
UCU Pavilion – Moraga, Calif.
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OVER THE LAST FOUR MATCHES…
Saint Mary's has played their best volleyball since the start of conference play over the last two weeks, going 3-1 in that stretch and firing on all cylinders both offensively and defensively. On the attacking side of the net, the Gaels have averaged 12.4 kills per set, led by Genevieve Bane, who has personally been responsible for 4.3 of those kills per set. Defensively, the Gaels have had a strong stretch as well. On the back row, this four match stretch has seen the Gaels average 15 digs per set, with Natalie Peete averaging 4.5 per set and Abby Castillon adding 3 digs per set. At the net, the young Gaels blocking corps are averaging 2.4 blocks per set during this four game stretch, with Kaliko Kealoha getting her hands on 19 blocks, while Bane and Tessa Schouten each have tallied 12 over the past four.
ABOUT THE TIGERS
Pacific is the only WCC school that the Gaels have not squared off with yet this season, and they'll get Pacific in Moraga on a week's rest, as they look to push their winnings streak against the Tigers to three in a row. Pacific is guided by 15th year Head Coach Greg Gibbons, who, with Thursday's win over Oregon State, ensured his third consecutive winning season. That matches his previous best stretch at the helm of the Tiger program, as he accomplished this feat between 2010 and 2012. Pacific returned five starters from last year's squad, and added a pair of standout transfers in the forms of Jayhlin Swain (Michigan State) and Margherita Giani (UT-Rio Grande Valley), but the biggest question for the Tigers coming into the season was how would they replace last year's conference leader in points per set, Biamba Kabengele, who graduated and is playing professionally in France. The answer has been Alexa Edwards, who leads the conference in that stat this year. Edwards has accounted for nearly a third of all of Pacific's attacks this season, nearly doubling the next closest teammate. As such, she leads the conference in attacks, attacks per set, kills, kills per set, points and points per set. The Tigers also lead the conference as a team in digs per set, due in big part to the Michigan State transfer Swain, who leads the WCC individually, averaging 4.25 digs per set. The Tigers lead the all-time series 15-12, but in Moraga, the series is split evenly at six wins apiece.
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